TERRORISM
Criminology 2009
Definition of Terrorism:
• Premeditated, politically motivated
violence perpetuated against
noncombatant targets by subnational
groups or clandestine agents, usually
intended to influence an audience (Siegel,
261)
Contemporary Forms of
TERRORISM:
• REVOLUTIONARY Terrorism:
– Use violence to frighten those in power & their
supporters in order to REPLACE the existing
government.
• POLITICAL Terrorism:
– Directed at people or groups who oppose the
terrorists’ political or religious ideology or whom the
terrorists define as “outsiders”. Political terrorists do
not want to REPLACE government but
SHAPE it to fit their views.
Contemporary Forms of
TERRORISM:
• NATIONALIST Terrorism:
– Promotes the interest of a minority ethnic or religious group that
believes it has been persecuted under majority rule and wishes
to carve out its own independent homeland.
• CAUSE-BASED Terrorism:
– Terrorism that espouses a particular social or religious cause
and uses violence to attract followers to their standard. They
do not want to set up their own homeland or government, rather,
they want to impose their social and religious code on the world.
Contemporary Forms of
TERRORISM:
• ENVIRONMENTAL Terrorism:
– Terrorism in responses to actions by governments or businesses that
are seen as “environmentally threatening”
• STATE SPONSORED Terrorism:
– When a repressive government regime forces its citizens into
obedience, oppresses minorities, and stifles political dissent (think
Death Squads)
• CRIMINAL Terrorism:
– When terrorists become involved in COMMON LAW crimes (drug
dealing, kidnapping, pirating, etc.)
Type of Terrorism?
DARFUR:
•The War in Darfur is a
conflict that is in the Darfur
region of western Sudan.
Unlike the Second Sudanese
Civil War, the current lines of
conflict are seen by some to
be ethnic, rather than
religious. However, a United
Nations report states that the
various tribes under attack
by the Sudanese troops and
Janjaweed (chiefly the Fur,
Masalit and Zaghawa tribes)
do not appear to have a
distinct ethnicity from their
attackers. There is
controversy over whether or
not the conflict involves a
genocide.
Type of Terrorism?
Earth Liberation Front burning of SUVs.
Type of Terrorism?
Mumbai, India
• The 2008 Mumbai attacks
were more than ten
coordinated shooting and
bombing attacks across
Mumbai, India's financial
capital and its largest city.
•Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only
attacker who was captured
alive, disclosed that the
attackers were members of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, the
Pakistan-based militant
organization, considered a
terrorist organization by
India, the United States, and
the United Kingdom, among
others. The Indian
Government said that the
attackers came from
Pakistan, and their
controllers were in Pakistan.
Type of Terrorism?
U.S.-Mexican DRUG WAR
Type of Terrorism?
LONDON
Bombings
•July 7, 2005
•London bombings (also
called the 7/7 bombings)
were a series of coordinated
suicide bomb attacks on
London's public transport
system during the morning
rush hour. Carried out by
British Muslims, the suicide
bombings were motivated by
Islamic extremism, and
ostensibly Britain's
involvement in the Iraq War
and other conflicts.
Type of Terrorism?
OK City Bombings
•The Oklahoma City bombing occurred on
Aprilﾊ19, 1995 which resulted in the
destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building, a government office complex in
downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The
attack claimed 168ﾊlives and left over 800ﾊ
people injured. It was the largest terrorist
attack on American soil in history before the
September 11 attacks. It remains the
deadliest act of domestic terrorism in
American history.
•Within days, McVeigh and Terry Nichols
were both arrested for their roles in the
bombing. Investigators determined that they
were sympathizers of a militia movement and
that their motive was to retaliate against the
government's handling of the Waco and
Ruby Ridge incidents (the bombing occurred
on the anniversary of the Waco incident).
Type of Terrorism?
September 11, 2001
Responses to Terrorism:
• The U.S.A. PATRIOT ACT
(USAPA):
– Law that gives enforcement agencies a freer hand to
investigate and apprehend suspected terrorists.
• 1.Records searches. It expands the government's ability to
look at records on an individual's activity being held by a
third parties.
• 2.Secret searches. It expands the government's ability to
search private property without notice to the owner.
• 3.Intelligence searches. It expands a narrow exception to the
Fourth Amendment that had been created for the collection
of foreign intelligence information
• 4."Trap and trace" searches. It expands another Fourth
Amendment exception for spying that collects "addressing"